Veggy Plot pictures and pages updated 17.01.09

Finally a break in the weather on a bitterly cold but fine sunny day means I have managed to take some new photos (with my new camera, a xmas present) of my vegetable plots for 2009 to see how they have survived through the winter.

So here goes (click on the pictures to enlarge them):-

Plot 1 Broad Beans and Peas

Plot 2 – Carrots and Onions

Plot 3 – Cabbages

Everything seems to be growing strongly thanks to my homemade fleece cloches – click here if you would like to know how to make your own small fleece cloche.

All my vegetables have survived the winter frosts unlike my poor frost bitten mallow (lavatera) shrub in the plant border.

New Blog Pages for 2009

I have had a bit of a spring clean with my blog and added some new information to the pages. I have setup 3 individual pages for each plot this year to record my sowing and harvest dates with slideshows:

• Plot 1 – Beans and Peas,
• Plot 2 – Roots and Onions,
• Plot 3 – Brassicas.

My About Me page now has details about my vegetable plot and a picture of all three plots.

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This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Veggy Plot Pictures and Pages Updated 17.01.09

Sowing Now – Broad beans, peas, carrots, onion sets, spring cabbage plants and chinese cabbage

Today I have been mostly sowing and planting:

Plot 1
Last year this plot had roots and salads in it, this year I have rotated my crops so that legumes are going to be grown here instead.

1. Broad Bean ‘Super Aquadulce’ (2 rows and 3 rows spare to sow in Nov) Sow Oct – Feb, Harvest June to July. Bought from Garden Organic.
2. Pea ‘Meteor’ (2 rows) Sow Oct to Nov, Harvest June to July. Bought from Garden Organic.
3. Parsnip ‘Countess F1′ (1 row) ready for harvest now to Nov from a sowing in February.

Tip for covering peas and beans:
I cover my peas and broad beans over-winter to protect them from the frost with enviromesh and horticultural fleece if snow is forecasted. I remove all covers in spring when flowers are forming so they can be pollinated by flying insects.

Plot 2
Last year this plot had brassicas in it, this year I have rotated my crops so that roots and onions are going to be grown here instead.

1. Carrot ‘Nantes Frubund’ (1 row and 3 spare to sow in succession) – Sow Feb to October, Harvest April to November. Bought from Gardens4less.
2. Onion Set ‘Red Cross’ (3 rows) – Plant Oct to Nov, Harvest June to July. Bought from Marshalls Seed.
3. Spring Onion ‘Hardy White Lisbon’ (2 rows) – Sow June to Oct, Harvest July – Dec. Bought from Garden Organic.

Onion Set Planting Tip:
I planted my Onion sets out in a mound with just the tips showing, spaced about a hand width apart in the row. This was recommended by an allotmenteer at Joe’s Allotment on Gardener’s World. He said this was better for drainage and sun exposure. Pea sticks or canes have been placed over the bed to protect from birds and cats.

Click here to see Friday 10th Oct Episode of Gardeners World on BBC iPlayer.

Plot 3
Last year this plot had beans and peas in it, this year I have rotated my crops so that brassicas are going to be grown here instead.

1. Cabbage ‘Greyhound’ plants – Plant Oct, Harvest April to May. Bought from Ebay.
2. Chinese Cabbage ‘Tatsoi’ ( 2 small rows) – Sow July to October, Harvest Sept to Dec. Bought from Garden Organic.

Tip on planting out cabbages:
Dig a small hole with a trowel, water the hole well, firm in plants with fingers and then firm in with heel of your foot. Cabbages require firm ground to grow in to support their stems and leaves.

And finally I harvested the last of the french beans and some parsnips for tea.

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This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Sowing Now – Broad Beans, Peas, Carrots, Onion Sets and Spring Cabbages

Bumper September Harvest

Unfortunately since my last post, my cabbages finally succumbed to the caterpillars so my brassica bed is now bare and I left all my plots to their own devises whilst going away on my hols to Canada.

So whilst I have been away my veggy plot has fended for itself very well with my runner, climbing and borlotto beans sown on 18th July 2008 now ready for harvesting in their droves which is fantastic.

My carrots (amsterdam forcing, james scarlet and autumn king) sown on 1st June 2008 are also now ready for harvesting.

Parsnips
I couldn’t help myself and had to pull up a parsnip to see how big they were, not a bad size either, can’t wait until October when I can dig up the rest.

Potatoes
I still have 2 big pots of Picasso Potatoes left to dig up as and when I need them.

Seeds and Sets to be purchased now to be sown/planted between October and December are:

1. Broad Bean seeds – Over-wintering varieties include: Super Aquadulce (organic) (from The Organic Garden catalogue), The Sutton (dwarf plant) and Aquadulce Claudia.
2. Pea seeds – Over-wintering varieties include: Meteor (from The Organic Garden catalogue), Douce Provence (organic), Feltham First and Pilot.
3. Onion ‘Red Cross’ and ‘Radar’ sets (from Marshalls Seeds)
4. Note to self – Look into buying crop fleece for the frosty season soon.

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This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Bumper September Harvest

Sowing, Harvesting & Big Plot Update 18.07.08

Today I Will Mostly Be Sowing:

• Dwarf Beans – ‘borlotto’,
• Broad Beans – ‘the sutton’,
• Peas – ‘ambassador’,
• Pak Choi – ‘riko white’.

Today I Will Mostly Be Harvesting:

• New Potato’s – ‘lady christl’ and ‘charlotte’,
• Cabbage – ’spring hero’ and ‘advantage’,
• Dwarf Beans – ‘borlotto’,
• Dwarf Beans – ‘ferrari’,
• Lettuce – ‘balmoral’ leaves,

Vegetables in Progress

• Tomato’s – ‘Green Zebra’,



• Cucumber’s – ‘Marketmore’,



• Broccoli ‘tenderstem’,

Plot Progress – Week 23

Plot 1
Carrots, red spring onion and beetroot are growing stronger from sowings made on 1st June 2008. Runner beans are slowly wrapping themselves around the canes. Parsnip foliage is going wild. Sowed Pak Choi into the gaps.

Plot 2
Tenderstem Broccoli nearly ready to pick, cabbage resolution savoy and golden acre are growing well after transplanting, still a few sacrificial cabbages of ‘advantage’ variety to attract the cabbage white butterflies to lay their eggs on (and not on my newly transplanted ones – seems to be working so far).

Plot 3
Broad Beans and Mange tout removed after harvesting. New sowings of peas, broad beans and dwarf beans under cloche (mainly due to cats digging bare soil). 2 x butternut squash plants doing well after transplant. Brussels sprout plants wedged in between dwarf beans but are growing steady.

Tomato and Cucumbers (outdoors)
Tomato’s have been tied to the canes and pots placed into upside down propagator lids. This has helped as this fence is a sun trap and dries the plants out daily, I pour water into the lids so the plant takes the water from its roots when necessary and doesn’t dry out. All tomato plants are flowering and some are fruiting. Cucumbers are rambling over the decking and are producing flowers and fruit.

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This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Sowing, Harvesting & Big Plot Update 18.07.08

Week 20 – 29.06.08 Plot Update Report

Its been a busy few weeks with revising for my RHS Horticulture exam which I took on the 26th June and after getting lost driving around Chelmsford for an hour I finally made it to Writtle College to sit my exam and it was ok, fingers crossed for the results out in Aug/Sept.

As for the vegetable plot everything’s producing very well.

First up is my very first Dwarf Borlotto Bean:

Butternut Squash’s (Hawk F1) which I thought was never going to emerge from the soil in their pots, two eventually did and have now been planted out in to Plot 3 and are growing on well.

My Runner beans have finally made it through the soil on my second sowing away from the slugs in Plot 1:

My Tenderstem Broccoli is flowering – all very pretty but not good for eating it will be very stringy now so onto the compost heap.

Finally in my opinion the most understated vegetable I have grown this year is the humble Mange Tout. They have produced more pods than my peas and just keep on producing them. Also they do not cook up slimy like the supermarket ones either, they are crunchy or tender (depending on how you like them) and a lovely accompaniment to broad beans.

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This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Week 20 Plot Update Report 29.06.08

Broad Beans – Yum Yum

I had a few broad beans just about ready for harvest a few days ago and I just couldn’t help but try them. I twisted the pods off the plant and brought them in for tea.

This is the first time I have ever tried broad beans (I know the general advice is don’t grow something which you know you may not like) but what the heck, growing veg is partly about trying things you’ve never done before and the other part is improving on things you have done before.

So I harvested some broad beans pods and pea pods, shelled them both and boiled in 2 cm of water for 5 minutes until soft. I then added the beans and peas to pasta for a light evening meal. It was delicious, broad beans are definitely for me! good job really as there’s quite a few more pods on the way!

Heres my harvest:
1st Picture – Broad Beans (Sutton) on left and Peas (Douce Provence) on right,
2nd Picture – closeup on broad beans.

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This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Broad Beans Yum Yum